Paul McCartney Wanted a Song He Wrote for Another Artist to Sound Russian

TL;DR:

• Paul McCartney helped create two tunes for another singer inspired by Russian songs.
• He explained why he never worked with the singer after her first album.
• He discussed his strongest memory of one of the songs.

Some of Paul McCartney‘s songs were written for other artists. For example, Paul once produced a hit based on a Russian folk song. Subsequently, he tried to write a Russian-style track himself.

Paul McCartney produced an adaptation of a Russian song for singer Mary Hopkin

Paul produced “Those Were the Days” for Mary Hopkin. “Those Were the Days” is an adaptation of a Russian folk tune called “Dorogoj dlinnoju.” The song was a hit. According to the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, the “Silly Love Songs” singer decided to produce a follow-up called “Goodbye.”

“I didn’t have in mind any more Russian folk songs, so I just wrote one for her,” he recalled. “I thought it fit the bill. It wasn’t as successful as the first one but it did all right.”

Paul McCartney revealed why he stopped writing songs for Mary Hopkin after ‘Goodbye’

Paul discussed the impact of “Goodbye.” “My main memory of it is from years later, going on a boat trip from the north of Scotland to the Orkney Islands,” he said. “The skipper of the boat was called George, and he told me it was his favorite song. And if you think of it from a sailor’s point of view, it’s very much a leaving-the-port song. He had the strangest Scottish accent, almost sort of Norwegian, as the Orkneyans do. He was quite proud of the fact that that was his favorite song.”

Paul revealed why he stopped collaborating with Hopkin. “After ‘Goodbye,’ Mary and I didn’t work together again,” Paul said. “She wanted to do a more folky album, and I felt that if she wanted to do that I wasn’t really interested in producing it. I don’t think it was a very good idea in the end.”

How Mary Hopkin’s ‘Goodbye’ performed in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Goodbye” reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on the chart for nine weeks. None of Hopkin’s subsequent singles reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. The tune appeared on the album Post Card. That record reached No. 28 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 20 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Goodbye” peaked at No. 2 in the United Kingdom, staying on the chart for 14 weeks. On the other hand, Post Card reached No. 3 in the U.K. and lasted on the chart for nine weeks. In the U.S. and the U.K., none of the singer’s other albums charted. However, Hopkin had other top 20 hits in the U.K. after “Goodbye,” including “Temma Harbour” and “Think About Your Children.” Today, she might be more remembered for her connections to Paul and Donovan than anything else.

“Goodbye” is a great song and it proved Paul was so multitalented he could even make Russian folk music.